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Biography

Dan Birlew is an author and video game expert who has been writing official, published video game strategy guides since 1999. Dan enjoyed video games since he was young, but at the age of twenty-six he set himself the goal of becoming an expert gamer. He wrote documents regarding games, known as “FAQs,” and published them online. Dan’s self-published plot analysis of the highly popular survival horror video game, Silent Hill, garnered a huge response. “The game’s story was intentionally vague, and demanded that someone try to explain it,” Dan says.

Though Dan’s original career goals included acting and directing, the overwhelmingly positive response of his readers (and a gentle nudge from his wife) convinced him to set aside his acting and directing activities to establish a career as a video game strategy guide author. He sent writing samples to several publishing companies. Based on the merits of his very first submission, he was hired by a major publisher within 24 hours. “It was as though I had won the lottery,” he says.

Dan has authored over sixty published video game strategy guides and continues to seek other publication avenues, such as review columns, articles, and other video game related books. “I love exploring video games, the industry, the culture, the fans — and there is so much of it about which I can analyze and write,” he says. He also bears a strong desire to publish fiction, and is currently developing several novels simultaneously.

Dan Birlew is a native of St. Louis, Missouri, and has lived in Pennsylvania, Texas, and California. He now resides in Las Vegas with his wife of nineteen years. He graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the University of Texas at Austin in 1993. Besides video games, Birlew also enjoys art-house films and dining in the fine restaurants of Las Vegas.